good morning. in the hot seat. billionaire media mogul rupert murdoch set to testify in front of britain's parliament today about the tabloid phone hacking scandal that threatens his empire. while an early whistle blower in the scandal is discovered dead. we're live in london with the dramatic developments. californiadreamin? new information suggests casey anthony may have flown to the golden state after her release from jail. as one witness from her trial claims the prosecution knowingly withheld evidence that could have helped the defense. and belles of the ball. the u.s. soccer team may have come up short in the world cup, but they're number one in our

hearts today and we've got them all in our studio on this hearts today and we've got them all in our studio on this tuesday, july 19th, 2011 captions paid for by nbc-universal television from nbc news, in this is "today" with matt lauer and ann curry, live from studio 1 a in rockefeller plaza. >> welcome, i'm ann curry. >> and i'm matt lauer. and boy, what a day it's going to be for rupert murdoch, hauled in front of parliament. he'll be answering questions about the phone hacking scandal about his tabloid "news of the world." >> rupert murdoch, his son and top editor all called to testify about the scandal that has sent shock waves around the world. we'll head to london in a moment. also, the latest on a tragic story out of florida, involving a teenager accused of killing his parents and then having a party in his house while they're bodies were hidden inside.

we're going to tell you more about that story, as well. also, we'll be talking about something else troubling. pumping iron. doctors say it's good for adults. but what about for kids who are still growing? coming up, the big business of children's gym memberships and the dangers of lifting too much weight too soon, matt. let us begin on a tuesday morning with rupert murdoch, forced to answer some very difficult questions in parliament today. nbc's stephanie gosk is in london with a preview. stephanie, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, matt. well, the questioning is set to begin in a couple of hours, just behind me. but ahead of the testimony, news corporation released a statement saying they take the allegations against "news of the world" seriously and are cooperating with authorities. but they reject any suggestion that what happened at the paper is somehow a reflection of the culture at the company. it is an unlikely faceoff. the head of the world's second largest media company, rupert murdoch, questioned by a small

panel of british politicians over phone hacking at one of his papers. broadcast live, the world will be watching. >> i wouldn't underestimate. he's deceptively mild, but also extremely astute, as well. of and so he'll give, i think, probably as good as he gets. >> well, they've got a lot of questions to answer. the main one is, did you know what was going on? did you know these appalling things had been done in your name? if not, why didn't you? >> reporter: murdoch has already apologized for allegations of phone hacking, and launched an internal investigation. but he and "news corps" executives say they weren't aware of wrongdoing at the time. his father, james murdoch, apparent heir, this will have a direct impact on his future at the company. questioned separately, rebekah brooks, resigned as head of the newspaper arm last friday. two days later, the 33-year-old was arrested for her alleged connection to the phone hacking and unlawful payments to police

officers. >> the position of rebekah brooks can be simply stated. she is not guilty of any criminal offense. >> reporter: the murdochs' testimony comes two weeks into a scandal that is not rocking just their company but also the institution of british society. there have been four high-profile resignations, including the top brass of scotland yard, and ten arrests. each new day drops a new bombshell. on monday, it was the death of sean hoare, the first journalist to go on the record pointing the finger directly at former "news of the world" editor andy colson accusing him of actively encouraging phone hacking. police say his death is unexplained, but not suspicious. and in an ironic twist, the company accused of hacking got hacked themselves. murdoch's son paper had to quickly remove this fake headline on its paper last night. today's story makes no mention of parliament or their boss, rupert murdoch.

the questioning is expected to take about three hours, but don't expect any detailed answers to direct questions about phone hacking. all three have said they will not answer questions that could in some way jeopardize the ongoing criminal investigation. matt? >> all right. stephanie gosk in london this morning. stephanie, thanks so much. michael wolff is the author of "the man who owns the news: inside the secret world of rupert murdoch." he is also the editorial director of "ad week" magazine. good to see you. talk about the dynamic. one of the biggest media moguls in the world who is going to sit down and get peppered with questions from members of parliament. he is not a guy who likes to be challenged, not a guy used to getting it any way other than his own way. what's it going to be like? >> it could be a complete meltdown, frankly. >> really? you think that? >> i have seen him prepare for these things before. i have seen him bridle, i've seen him resist. he's really only ever testified, to my knowledge, twice before. and when -- he was much younger

then, and then he did a bad job. he is somewhat -- >> but he knows what to face here. when you say it could be a complete meltdown, there have been coaching sessions, there have been media consultants brought in, although "bloomberg news" is reporting that key company executives say they're concerned about the way he has performed, even in the rehearsals. >> that's what i hear in london. it's radiating out from this circle of people around him. there are a lot of people around him now, so everybody is talking. and it's -- it's going to be precarious. i mean, he may rise to the occasion. but remember, it's an important thing. he's 80 years old. and i've spent a lot of time with him. it's not a young 80. >> all right. what is a win for rupert murdoch? what can he accomplish in front of this committee today that would be described as a victory? >> well, i'm going tell you what i think is the central thing on his mind. the thing that is consuming him is how to save his son, james. i really believe, if it was -- if he could step in front of james and take the bullet, he

would. and we may see that. >> so this is -- is about protecting a successor to lead the company. >> not just a successor. it's his whole legacy. it's his whole reason for being hangs in the balance. >> so if he comes across after questioning as an honorable mogul, a guy with no knowledge of wrongdoing, no knowledge of hacking or payments to law enforcement, does he have to come out and say again what he said on the front page of all these newspapers, "i am sorry, we did things that were terrible, we will clean up"? >> he will say that a lot. it's the other part that's going to be very difficult. that he had no knowledge, that he was a remote figure. when everyone knows that he is -- as involved in the nitty-gritty, the granular details of running these newspapers as anyone has ever been. >> so transparency is going to be a key here. there's no question. these people are going to ask tough questions. if he comes across as being vague, removed or slippery, probably not the right word, but if he comes across in some ways

of being evasive, bad day. >> yeah. or remote or arrogant or resistant to people asking him questions. >> you say his main goal would be to save his son. of "news corps" released a statement to nbc news last night saying they're taking the allegations seriously and cooperating with authorities and is went on to say, quote, we reject the notion that issues at news international are somehow indicative about our culture. this is about a brand. >> it's about the murdoch brand. and you may be able to separate that. this is a company with lots and lots of entertainment assets, which murdoch, frankly, is not really that interested in. what he's interested in is the newspapers, and those newspapers are indicative of the murdoch culture as they are the murdoch culture, in fact. >> another published report this morning also from bloomberg, i should mention, that says there are some company executives perhaps mulling over the

possibility of rupert murdoch stepping aside. the company's coo, carrie chase -- chase carey, assuming his responsibilities. how likely in your opinion? >> i think not only likely, almost inevitable. i think it's the board members rather than executives mulling this. and the nine independent board members literally have to look at a life of litigation in front of them if they don't get this right now. and the easy, obvious solution is kick rupert upstairs. >> it doesn't solve the problem, though. >> i think it actually might solve the problem. this is not an enron situation. it's a company that has two proble problems. its newspapers and the murdoch family. you get rid of those two problems and you have a growing, flourishing company that no one has accuse of doing anything wrong. >> michael wolff who like everyone else will be watching what happens. thank you for being here. here's ann.

thanks. exactly two weeks from today, if there is no deal, the united states will reach its debt limit and be unable to pay its bills. but the president and congressional republicans are still trying to work out their differences, as the house considers a controversial measure today. nbc's kelly o'donnell, nbc's capitol hill correspondent, now joins us. first, kelly, publicly, the republicans are calling for the cap -- cut, cap and balance plan. basically, increases the debt ceiling with only spending cuts, caps future spending and calls for a balanced budget amendment to the constitution. tea party conservatives love this plan. the president has already said he's going to veto it. do we really have time for a plan that is really just show, kelly? >> well, the important thing for house republicans and conservatives is to get their big political statement today. so they believe there's time for that. because the plan you just described allows them to say, the real solution is cutting spending big now, and changing how congress would work for years and years to come to limit

spending in the future. so that's what they want to do. now, the white house knows it's not going to get to the president's desk, but they came out hard. they issued the veto threat, and they also said that this would really force the government to not be able to spend on things like medicare, social security, prevents spending for future disasters. and they even renamed it. you know, republicans call it cut, cap and balance. of the white house is calling it duck, dodge and dismantle. ann? >> let's move on and talk about what the white house is doing behind the scenes. because privately on sunday, secretly, really, there was a meeting between the president and republican leaders. and it raises the specter, is the quote, unquote, biggest deal possible actually still possible, kelly? >> well, aides in both parties tell me they're still talking about that, trying to do something that could be much bigger and would have a longer-term result. but the short term is really a plan that is getting a lot of attention quietly, negotiations going on.

and it's been around from mitch mcconnell to harry reid, the democratic leader in the senate. what they're trying to do is a damage that would shift the authority to raise the debt limit back to the president. would give him the political risk, too. he would be able to do it in three installments between now and his run for re-election. and they would expect to include somewhere in the range of $1.5 trillion in cuts. a lot of details still to be sorted out. i'm told they're looking at things like extending the popular payroll tax cut. that might be in there. but i'm also told one of the problems is, if this is seen as too much of a washington establishment solution, that would make it harder to get any of those house republicans to go along. and whatever deal will take both republicans and democrats to make it by that deadline in two weeks. >> all right. that's right. just two weeks to go, kelly o'donne o'donnell, thank you so much. and coming up, we'll get more perspective from margaret hoover author of the new book called "american individualism: how a new general ranges of conservatives can save

the republican party." good morning to you. >> good morning. >> it appears the republican party is moving on two separate tracks. what's exactly going on here? >> so what you asked is -- at the top of the show was, do we really have time for them to go through these renditions, cut cap and balance if it's not going to be on the president's desk. the reason we have time is because really there is a risk between the republican party between the gop old guard and the new guard. and what's going on behind the with your tan right now, they're developing plan b. they're working on what will be able to get through the senate, what will we be able to live with in the house and what will the president be able to sign? it's a big deal that we're talking about, what's being worked out now. today will be a statement of principle, but what's really going to happen is what's getting worked out now. >> okay. but quoting you, you make a very interesting point. you say many of the tea party really do believe you can run the government off a cliff to prove a point. that you can default on the debt. what explains this? >> well, look. you have 87 new members in congress who have never had the

responsibility of governing before. what they have done is, they have infused within the republican party and washington, frankly, a real urgency to deal with the debt and the deficit. without them, and without these house republicans, we wouldn't even be having this conversation. and that was really reflected in the electorate in 2010. people said, we need to take care of our debt and deficit. and so that's what's being reflected and we're working out the kinks now. >> so you're saying on one hand while they're fundamentally naive and irresponsible, on the other hand, you say they're bringing so much energy into the party that the party has got to figure out how to use that energy. >> let's be fair. i didn't say all of the republicans are naive and irresponsible, but there are a few new members who actually are ideological purists. and eventually have to give. >> you write in this book -- ultimately, you wrote it because you care about the direction of party. and in that vein, you were predicting in this book a generational war. >> well, here's the deal. there are 80 million million

enials born between the beginning of the reagan era and the clinton presidency. they made the majority of the difference in barack obama's election. part of an identity tends to solidify after three presidential election cycles. these kids are not voting republican, and in the next 16 months we could risk losing an entire generation. >> how are republicans out of step with this generation? between 1980 and 2000? >> i think a lot of our talk about the debt and deficit focuses on the tea party. we should be catering to the 30 and under. the million enial generation -- every dollar is spent right now, millionenials have to pay back themselves. we should be targeting our message to the 30 and under democrat graphic because it affects their future. >> we are facing the worst economic time since the great depression. your great grandfather was criticized for not doing more to stop the depression. so what are the lessons that you

think are applicable from his administration to today? >> see, and that is a very typical criticism of herbert hoover, although when you look back at it at the end of 1929, "the new york times" said no president would have done much, and no president after could do better. that is one of these narratives. i think herbert hoover is knocked with a bit of the politics of personal destruction in how he handled the great depression. but, look, the way we handled the depression, hoover went on to establish the hoover institution which went on to establish friedman. so i think his politics and what we have learned from the great did depression has offered tools that herbert hoover didn't have at his disposal then. i think he would be a cut spending permanently, grow the economy president. and i think he would be doing things to make the public sector be -- private sector be able to figure out how to create jobs. because at the end of the day, people need jobs. and there are progress policies we should be implementing.

>> there you go. margaret hoover, a pleasure. thank you so much. and the book is called "american individualism." now let's get a check of the morning's top stories from natalie morales. >> good morning, ann. good morning, everyone. a colorado air traffic controller is accused of being drunk while on duty. a source close to the investigation tells nbc that the long-time controller was found to have alcohol in his system during a random testing in july. he has since been removed from duty. for the second time this month, a giant dust storm called a haboob rolled through phoenix, arizona. the 3,000-foot tall ball of dust scrambled visibility at sky harbor international airport, and sent winds gusting up to 40 miles per hour. two tropical storms are forming and picking up steam. and bret is moving slowly through the atlantic ocean but is expected to spare the east coast. meantime, sweltering weather in the midwest is holding strong and moving east. 20 states have heat advisories

in effect today. we'll have more from al in just a moment. the illegal practice of robosigning is alive and well in three states, despite promises from banks and mortgage companies that it would end. that's according to the associated press. critics say the mortgage industry isn't doing enough to stop workers from forging signatures or signing foreclosure documents without reading them. and now let's head to wall street. cnbc's melissa francis is at the new york stock exchange again for us this morning. good morning. >> good morning, natalie. shares of news corp under pressure as the board calls for rupert murdoch to step aside. a lot depends on murdoch's performance before parliament today. also, borders announcing it's going to close its doors, the second-largest book seller had been looking for a buyer to keep the stores open. they were unable to find that. about 400 stores will close, costing 11,000 jobs. we're watching gold soar $1600 an ounce on worries both debt here and in europe. back to you.

>> melissa francis from the new york stock exchange, thank you. and fond farewells this morning as nasa's final shuttle "atlantis" departed from the international space station, due back thursday. of a spacecraft snapped pictures of vesta, the brightest rock and sent them home from 117 million miles away. almost looks like the moon there. absolutely spectacular. 7:19 now. let's turn it back over to matt, ann and al. >> that is a pretty picture, na

>> we have been saying that all morning here. it is a riot here, at least from rained. hot and humid. 95. and that's your latest weather. matt? >> al, thanks so much. it's a crime straight out of

a horror novel. police in florida say a teenager murdered his parents and then threw a party as they lay dead in their home. nbc's mark potter is here with the disturbing story. mark, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning to you, matt. neighbors are stunned by what police found in the house behind me. two parents dead on the floor. their son is now charged with murder and sits in jail. >> they say you murdered your parents -- >> reporter: 17-year-old tyler hadley was transferred monday evening from juvenile detention to the saint lucie county jail after he was charged as an adult with the premeditated murders of both his parents. 54-year-old blake hadley, a power company worker and 47-year-old mary jo hadley, a popular school teacher. police say they were bludgeoned to death with a framing hammer like this one. >> it was a merciless killing. it was brutal. >> reporter: police discovered the grizzly scene early sunday morning after an anonymous tip

about a possible murder brought them to the hadley home in port st. louisy, florida. they say they found the bodies on the floor with the hammer between them. tyler hadley, month met police at the door, was arrested at the scene, where police say he had tried to hide the bodies but neither items from the house. >> books, files, towels. anything that he could find inside the home to cover the bodies. >> reporter: police say hadley killed his parents and hid their bodies on saturday. also on that day, police say hadley invited facebook friends to his house for a party and went on, police say, to party with dozens of his friends. >> there was at least a good 50 people here. >> reporter: the neighbors called police at 2:30 sunday morning to complain about the noise. >> kids hanging out of the windows yelling at each other. >> reporter: police returned to the home after receiving the murder tip. police say hadley isn't talking, and they have not established a motive. neighbors and family friends were stunned.

>> we are just perplexed, i guess. as everyone. what happened. >> you wonder what could possibly have gone so wrong. what could be going through a child's mind to do something so violent and horrible to his parents. it's mind-boggling. >> reporter: now, hadley has yet to enter a plea. last night, his grandfather told nbc news that just a week ago, the boy attended a family reunion and showed no signs of disturbance. in fact, actually seemed to be enjoying himself there with his father. matt? >> mark potter this morning in port st. louisy, thank you very much. still ahead, kids and weight lifting. how much is too much, and how young is too young? we'll get into that. but first, this is "today" on nbc.

coming up, new information suggesting casey anthony is living in california. we'll go there live. and on a lighter note, the

u.s. women's soccer team stops by in our studio. hershey's chocolate goodness, that brings people together. hershey's makes it a s'more. you make it special. pure hshey's. >> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am stan stovall. here is sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. >> it has been a nice ride out there. one problem in aberdeen, pulaski highway and 715, there is an accident there. towards the fort mchenry,

looking pretty good. we have a disabled vehicle. i put southbound, but it is actually northbound on the fort mchenry told plaza. live view of that in a moment. a little bit of a delay on the west side of route 795 on the outer loop. not all that bad on the rest of the major roads. we will start with the area i beltway 83. so far so good on both loops. 95 and the fort mchenry tunnel plaza, what we did have was a disabled vehicle. it looks like it is clear northbound. no problems to report at the harbor tunnel either. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. >> today is going to be another hot one. at temperatures at least in the low-to-mid nineties. with humidity, it is going to feel even worse. maybe an isolated showers towards the north. mainly the activity comes at it

with the noon. scattered thunderstorms brings in heavy downpours. seven-day forecast looks to be a hot one. heat and humidity surges in towards the end of the week. >> check the bottom of your screen for updated news and traffic information. we are back in 25 minutes with another live update no.

7:30 now on a tuesday morning. it's the 19th of july, 2011. summer flying by. and it feels like summer here in the city. a lot of people out on the plaza getting an early start, which is great advice, because it gets awful hot in the afternoon around here. temperatures going up to about 100 degrees later in the week. going to get sticky. we'll get outside and stay hi to those people. get sticky with them in just a couple minutes. meanwhile, inside the studio, i'm matt lauer alongside ann curry. and coming up, we'll talk about the bad economy. a lot of experts say things are getting a little bit better. you know what, it doesn't really feel that way for millions of

americans, and they are taking steps to protect themselves, cutting back on spending. how can you do it, too? we're going to have key survival tactics. >> we'll also talk about some amazing young women with big goals in life. the u.s. women's soccer team is here, fresh off their great run at the world cup in germany, waving at all of you this morning. we'll hear from them. >> looking forward to that. also ahead, how about this question. would you let your child, and i'm talking about children, 8, 9, 10 years old, maybe 11, join a gym, and pump iron? we're going to tell you why more and more kids are lifting heavy weights, and why that has some people a little bit concerned. >> all right. but let's begin with casey anthony, and the question, is she hiding out on the west coast this morning? nbc's kerry sanders is in carlsbad, california with the latest on this story. hey, kerry, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, ann. i'm in southern california. yes, in carlsbad. it's an upscale coastal community not far from san diego. when casey anthony was released from jail in orlando two days

ago, she vanished. but now sources say she climbed on board an airplane, an aircraft kept at a hangar right here. that aircraft flying west, making multiple stops, where she may or may not have stepped off. >> this is the first place you would go search. >> reporter: todd makaluso was a high-powered california attorney, once a member of casey anthony's legal team who reportedly gave her $70,000 before leaving the case last year. >> there is substantial evidence, and that proves, your honor, her innocence. >> reporter: on his website, he sizes his private plane, a plane that enables us to travel anywhere within the united states in seven hours. the day before casey was released from jail, his plane was on the ground in orlando, according to flightaware.com, a website which tracks commercial and private air crafts. pilots are not required to file flight plans for every trip, but the next time the plane showed up was in panama city, florida,

nearly four hours after casey's release from jail. after changing its planned destination twice, according to flightaware records, makalusa's plane headed to prescott, arizona. almost 15 hours later, the plane stopped in northern california. and then landed at the john wayne airport here in southern california. makalusa declined to comment to nbc news, and casey anthony's legal team will not say if she was on board or if she is now in california. >> there might be somebody, if they want to spend enough money and effort and energy trying to find her. but it won't do them any good, because they won't be able to get to her, won't be able to talk to her, and when they blink, she'll be gone. >> reporter: it's unclear who is funding casey anthony's life right now. she left jail with only $537.68. there is talk of a possible pay per view television interview, but she has also been hit with an irs tax lien and four different lawsuits. you may remember one of the key

pieces of evidence the prosecution had during trial was taken from the anthonys' family home computer. they said they found 84 searches on the hard drive for chloroform. but during trial, according to the "new york times," the owner of the company that created the software that extracted that information from the hard drive said that the software was faulty, and is there were not 84 searches, there was only one. we attempted to contact the prosecutors to ask them for their reaction to this. they did not respond to us, nor did they respond to the "new york times." remember, it was that chloroform search that was a linchpin of the prosecution's case, because they claimed that casey had poisoned her little daughter caylee with chloroform. ann? >> all right, kerry sanders this morning. thanks. star jones is a former prosecutor and veteran legal commentator, and savannah guthrie is today's legal correspondent. good morning to both of you.

>> good morning. >> on this last point, is it possible that the prosecution failed in its duties during the trial that it wasn't 84, according to the software design who said it was 84, but when they checked the data and checked and scoffed glitches, it was only one time there was a chloroform search? >> law and ethics require the prosecution to turn over any information that it might -- that might be exculpatory to the defendant. if they found out prior to the close of their case that what was considered a linchpin, if you will, of their case, there was material that suggested they put on false evidence, in theory, they should turn it over. >> yeah, if it's exculpatory evidence, they should have turned it over. what i think is interesting here, there was testimony from a different search engine company that said it was only searched one time. so the jurors did hear this evidence that it wasn't 84 hits, it was only 1. one thing, though, i remember -- i think i commented on at the time. in the closing argument by the prosecution, they never mentioned those computer

searches. and i remember thinking, that's odd. that was their key evidence of premeditation. why did they drop the issue in closing arguments? >> this may be the reason why. >> this is an argument. if you know or you think there is material that went in before the jury that should not have gone in, if you don't use it in the -- as part of your closing statement, then that's a good suggestion that you knew there were some problems. >> but doesn't that mean -- where does this go from here? in other words, if this, in fact, is found to be true, this "new york times" article, how does it effect then how this case -- how all of this debate goes from here? >> i think it's probably a nonissue. prosecutors if they failed to turn over exculpatory evidence may have an ethics issue on their hands. if she been convicted we would have a different story, we would have a hot issue on appeal. but what she was convicted of was lying to investigators. it has nothing to do with this chloroform search evidence. >> let's talk about the story of what is going on in terms of the search to find casey anthony. at some point, they're going to -- her whereabouts are going to be known. is there anything that she can

do to stall or -- there is no guide book here. >> she kind of has a big decision to make. does she want to live her life in relative obscurity quietly, or does she want to make the most money at this opportune time, sort of pimp out her infamy. and that is a decision she has to make. if she decides to do it quietly, that is going to a legitimate news source, not selling an interview, not having any connection to selling videos or photographs, doing it one time and walking away. if she wants to make the most of her infamy, then she can just go for the gusto. >> yeah, you say it's a hard choice. in some sense, i don't know if she has a choice. i don't know if she'll be able to quietly go into that good night. i think sooner or later, paparazzi cameras will find her, spectators will find her. everything she does will be interesting. it's not the situation where celebrities can kind of foreclose the cameras by releasing a photo of a new baby daughter or something.

people will be interested not just in what she looks like, but they want to see what she is doing. if she goes to the grocery store, if she goes to the coffee shop. there will be, for a certain period of time, money associated with anybody who can get that photograph. so i think she is going to be dogged by the cameras for a long time. >> meantime, there seems to be some money in play here. we heard yesterday from chain me mason that her lifestyle will be funded by volunteers. they have had a lot of offers to help. i mean -- >> i watched that interview. it was very curious. people just want to insert themselves into a high-profile situation. and i find it a little interesting. no matter what you feel about casey anthony, if you think she was wrongly charged and she was not responsible for the death of her child, there is no question that she didn't use her mothering instincts in the way she reported this child's disappearance and then subsequent death. so i don't know where the volunteers are coming from, if you will. these -- i want to be on team

casey. it doesn't make a lot of sense to me. >> i think people around casey need to evaluate the motives of anybody trying to insert themselves in this situation. >> savannah guthrie, star jones, thank you both. it's always good to have your perspective. and now let's get a check of the weather from al. >> "today's" weather is brought to you by chevy. every model is backed by 100,000 miles, 5-year powertrain limited warranty. >> and we've got some girls from 4-h. where in california are you guys from? >> we're from grass valley, california. >> that's great. farm girl. we like that. very nice. all right. let's check your weather. severe storms from fargo, north dakota all the way to d.c. and charlotte. possibility of a few tornadoes, especially eastern north dakota and minnesota. at risk, extending into the mid atlantic states, rain in the pacific northwest where it's cooler. air quality alerts in much of texas today. rip currents along the southeastern atlantic coast due to tropical storm bret. we have showers in the

northwest, gorgeous in the northeast, although humidity levies >> unfortunately, no escape from heat and humidity. high temperatures across the state. scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon. heavy downpours. and that's your latest weather. ann? >> al, thank you. coming up next, getting through the tough times. how you can save more money in a bad economy, right after this. the chevy cruze eco offers an epa estimated 42 miles per gallon on the highway. how does it do that? well, to get there, a lot of complicated engineering goes into every one.

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we're back now at 7:44 and this morning in ""today"'s money" dealing with tough times. only 18,000 jobs were added to the u.s. economy in june. today's financial editor jean chatzky is here to look at what you can do. good morning, nice to see you. >> you too. >> whether or not the recovery is moving forward or not, people seem to be living as if it is not. >> and that's because of the composition of this recovery. if you look at where the extra money is going, it's all going to corporations. and it's not going to individuals in terms of jobs and wages. >> so people are cutting back. by the way, you have long been a

proponent of living somewhat below your means. >> absolutely. >> so this to you must be a good thing. >> it's a good thing for individuals. it's not a good thing for the economy. we need people to start spend figure we're going to see growth. >> harris polls tells us some ways people are cutting back, some people saying they're purchasing generic brands more, going to the hairdresser less often. i don't know why i pointed to you. switch to refillable water bottles, cut back on cable, stop buying that expensive cup of coffee in the morning. >> right. people are saying we are making these changes. and i ask people on facebook and twitter, are you missing these things? and they said after a month or so, not so much. >> so it's common sense, a lot of these things. i mean, you know, bringing your lunch to work, carpooling. but what can we learn based on what we're seeing in terms of the ways others are saving money? >> if you haven't made these changes, look at your monthly bills. look at the cable and the health club and things you pay for every single month and ask yourself, have i trimmed these,

could i trim these? if you're not couponing, start. i'm not talking about extreme couponing, because there has been some pushback on that stores like publix and target. but it could save you $20,000 a year. >> the battle over the debt ceiling and when whether it will be raised or not raised and it has to be raised. what would the significance be for people trying to save money if this does not get done? >> the stock market will go down, and people will be feeling pain in ways we haven't seen in a while. >> all right. jean chatzky, thanks very much. good to see you. it's 7:46. up next, we'll take you to the wyoming town where flying solo is a way of life. it's a great story. that's right after this. ♪

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and 80,000 patents later, we're still reinventing it. ♪ it's no coincidence that the oldest car company has the youngest and freshest line in the luxury class. mercedes-benz. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers on the c-class. ♪ vo:...and so is the bacon... cheddar ranch tendercrisp at burger king. crispy bacon, rich cheddar cheese and creamy ranch dressing. not even the end of the world will make you put it down. get it before it's gone. and see "transformers: dark of the moon" now in theaters. so we made ocean spray cranberry juice cocktail with a splash of lime. it's so refreshing, your taste buds will thank you. mm... oh, you're welcome. what? my taste buds -- they're thanking me. uh-huh. you've probably never heard of buford, wyoming, but you'll

probably never forget it once you see what lee cowen found when he took a trip there. >> reporter: don salmon made a choice when he decided to live on the other side of the track. he knew he would spend a lot of time alone. he moved to buford, wyoming 20 years ago, a town just off i-80. since then, he has been a model citizen. >> i'm here because i want to be here. >> he runs the grocery store, the hardware store, the liquor store. he is even the town cook. >> now all we need is customers. >> reporter: it's not that he's a control freak. it's just that don can't find any help. buford has a population of just 1. ♪ one is the loneliest number that you'll ever do ♪ >> as far as i know, i'm the nation's smallest town, yeah. >> reporter: welcome to zip code 82052, halfway between laramie and cheyenne. it's a tourist's curiosity.

what did you think you were going to find when you got here? >> well, i didn't know. >> reporter: there's only one paved road, winding path which used to be buford's schoolhouse. it ends at the front door of the only home in town. think you'll ever have a stoplight? >> i certainly hope not. >> reporter: he's got the only snowplow in buford, the only tow truck. the only gas for miles. do you think this qualifies as a town? >> in wyoming? it's almost a city. >> reporter: tell that to don's only neighbors. wyoming ground squirrels. buford wasn't always this small. once a railroad town, it boasted some 2,000 residents. the rain still runs through buford. only these days, they just don't stop anymore. >> when the railroad went away, the town went away. >> well, the whole town did, yeah. >> reporter: betty lives a county away and has been watching buford slowly fade from the map for some 90 years.

but she said don saved it. >> yeah, i think don likes it out here. >> reporter: he's become sort of an angel of i-80. if you've got an engine problem, don likely has the answer. >> if it's jerking like that, a lot of times that's water. >> reporter: if you're a little low on cash, he'll even spot you a few dollars. >> he's the kind of guy who will give you the shirt off his back. >> he has kept the lights burning longer than most expected. but it won't last forever. >> i'm getting to the point where i'm thinking about retirement, you know, so i don't know what's going to happen to buford when i decide to retire. ♪ all by myself >> reporter: so if you ever find yourself on i-80 and need gas or conversation, stop by. just do it before don rolls up buford's sidewalks, either for the night -- >> we'll see you, don. >> reporter: -- for for good. for "today," lee cowen, nbc news, buford, wyoming. >> good for you, don. coming up, the u.s. women's

soccer team graces our studio after your local news. a living, breathing intelligence that's helping people rethink how they live. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. ♪ we'll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites... for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them. it's a network of connections and ideas... open and collaborative... extending far beyond the mobile phone. connecting you to a world of intelligent new devices and technologies. from today's best innovators... and tomorrow's. ♪ it's the at&t network... a network of possibilities... and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. ♪

i was worried about 'em, you know? i mean for instance my mom went to bed tonight before making my dinner. which is fine, i mean i, i know how to make dinner. it just starts to make you wonder. is this what happens when you age? my friends used to say i was the lucky one. i had the fun parents. where's the fun now? night, guys. [ sighs ] ♪ [ male announcer ] toyota venza. keep on rolling.

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>> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am stan stovall. here is sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. >> this one involves a pedestrian. a block away from this accident. paca street at lombard. two early morning crashes in the city to watch for. delay on the north side outer loop towards providence. standard delay there. back around 795 towards i-70 in

the outer loop. in trends and problems elsewhere, aberdeen and route 40, pulaski highway, accident being cleared. northbound, southbound at harford county. white marsh, things start to build up just a bit. we will show you what it looks like on the topside harrisburg expressway. pretty nice ride on the j.f.x. into town. harrisburg is delay free all the way to the beltway. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. now we check in with ava. >> we have a couple of showers across the area, but most of the state with the dry roads. mostly to its west virginia, but as we get to the afternoon, the ghetto were scattered storms all around the state. -- dental for scattered storms all around the state. temperatures in the low-to-mid- 90's. it will be filling humid, hotter and more humid as we get late in

the week. >> you can check the bottom of your screen for updated news and traffic information. back at 8:25 with another live update. update. [ female announcer ] have you ever seen a glacier while sunbathing? why not? have you ever climbed a rock wall in the middle of the ocean? or tried something really wild? why not? it's all possible in the nation of why not. royal caribbean's floating nation. where you are free to do anything you want.

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8:00 now on this tuesday morning, july 19th, 2011. don't tell the kids out in our crowd, but their summer vacation is probably about halfway over already, if not a bit more. but it looks like everybody is having a good time this morning, waving at their families and friends back home. and it's already hot and sticky out here this morning. i'm ann curry along with matt lauer and al roker. coming up, we'll talk about a new group, the newest group of "american idol," the u.s. women's soccer team, fresh from their amazing world cup tournament, where they made it a heart-stopping final game. what they have to say, coming up. we'll also talk about kids

and weight lifting. i'm talking about kids as young as 6, 7, 8 years old, an incredible rise in the number of gym memberships for young children. but some people warn against that. we're going to talk to a doctor and a psychologist to figure out what's going on. >> all right. and then we've got them on the plaza. you know them, you love them, you can't live without them. they're here to hunk it out, the entire cast of "entourage" here to talk about the final season of their hit show on hbo. >> they're bringing some cool facts to our broadcast. my 16-year-old son walker doesn't really get up before 12:00 in the afternoon. he is glued to the tv. >> was thinking about coming down. >> exactly. because he loves this show. anyway, let's get to the news, natalie morales. >> good morning, everyone. media tie coop rupert murdoch and his son james are facing tough questions today from the british parliament. lawmakers want to know if phone hacking and police bribery were tools of the trade at murdoch's

british newspaper. the scandal forced two top police officials to quit. and prime minister david cameron cut short his trip to africa to address an emergency session of parliament tomorrow. with just two weeks until a default deadline, president obama says progress is being made on a deal with congress to cut government spending and raise the nation's borrowing limit. but today the house is expected to devote time to a tea party-backed budget bill, which is expected to be shot down by the senate and the white house. as many as 13 deaths are now being blamed on a heatwave gripping the middle of the country. heat indexes topping 100 degrees are expected to linger and push eastward. 62 million americans are affected by the unbearable temperatures and humidity. new research suggests that curbing risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking, depression and obesity could prevent millions of cases of alzheimer's disease.

the study also found that illiteracy can contribute to future cases of dementia, because it keeps young brains from developing as much as they should. and now here's brian williams with a look at what's coming up tonight on "nbc nightly news." brian. >> natalie, good morning. tonight we'll bring you a story we have been talking about. for every satchel page and jackie robinson, there were hundreds more hometown heroes who dominated the diamond yet were invisible in life and sadly in death. now one man is making a big difference to recognize all of them. that and more when we see you tonight. natalie for now, back to you. now for a look at what's trending today, what has you talking online. facebook friends are wondering who will be first to get tripped up by philadelphia's enforcement of a ban on texting while walking. sidewalk outlaws will be fined $120. i would be getting that fine, no doubt. the u.s. women's world cup soccer team enjoyed a heroes welcome when they returned home from germany monday. and why not?

the team's nail-biting loss to japan sunday broke the tweeting record seatbet by the death of a bin laden. and we'll be meeting all of the players here in studio in just a few minutes. and is she playing hard to get? betty white has turned down a youtube invitation to attend the marine corps ball. the 89-year-old star says she was flattered and loves a man in uniform, but will be busy taping an episode of "hot in cleveland" during the november ball. that's too bad. it is 8:04 right now. let's go back outside to al with a check of the weather. >> maybe they'll change the taping schedule. here's hoping. all right. we've got a young man who is related to -- your grandfather is a weather guy? what's his name? >> mcbride. >> big hello to skip mcbride! hello, skip. let's check your weather and see what's happening. omaha, nebraska, nbc 6, oppressive heat and humidity today, near 100 degrees. the rest of the country, we've got some monsoonal moisture in

the southwest, showers making their way into the pacific northwest where temperatures will be a little bit cooler. a few hit or miss hours in the northeast. the heat continues into the gulf coast, risk of strong storms in the mid atlantic states all the way up into the central and northern plains. that's what's going on aro >> it is going to be another hot one. marleigh sunny skies, may be isolated showers towards the afternoon. high temperatures mid-nineties and that's your latest weather. mr. lawyer? >> all right, al. thank you very much. when we come back, goal-oriented. the u.s. women's soccer team in our studio, all fired up, even after a tough loss at the world

cup. we'll talk to them right after this. act my age?

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solo. you brought women's soccer to a whole new level of cool. everyone was watching. the president was watching. even tweeting. of in fact, i understand that the -- broke the record for the number of tweets per second, even eclipsing the royal wedding. what is your reaction? >> yay! >> so what is your reaction to that? i mean, have you wrapped your mind around how popular it was watching you? >> i don't think we've captured it all yet. just being over there in germany and, you know, hope to be inspiring to everyone at home and now we realize we were. we were there. and, you know, the hearts on these girls, you know, 21 players here, the determination. you know, we wanted toin entire everybody back home at america and it looks like we did. >> did you feel extra pressure, abby, knowing attention was on the game, that people were watching? >> no, that was an added sense of inspiration for us. we heard the stories over in germany. coming here yesterday, we got the times square pulled around the corner, and there was this

huge crowd waiting for us. and i was like, look at the people outside. that's for us, you know? and we were just so humbled by the fact that our country got behind us. obviously, we wish we could have brought home the cup, but i think we did it in an inspirational way, made ourselves proud. >> are you mad that it came down to a penalty kick? maybe i should ask you, hope. are you mad about that? because you guys played with so much heart. and this is the thing. they had watched you do penalty kicks. you had not seen them do penalty kicks. >> you know, i think in a major tournament, it is so difficult to win two very dramatic games in that kind of fashion. so when it came down to penalty kicks, we had given everything we had in the last penalty kick shootout against brazil. so i knew it was going to be difficult this time around. but we gave our best game in the final. it was a possession-oriented game. and for so lang long we had heard the american team has a great defense, they go along, look for abby's head. but in the final, we came out

with an attacking spirit. and i think we showed america everything they wanted to see in a final. >> and as hard as this loss was for you, we saw the disappointment on your faces, when you hear how exciting it was for japan after the earthquake, the tsunami, the nuclear disaster there, what goes through you? does that give you a kind of compensation to your sense of loss? >> yeah, i think hope -- she was quoted as saying, you know, sometimes -- maybe this is best for the japanese people. it's hard for us. obviously, we wanted to win. but if our sacrifice in not winning is going to uplift an entire nation in had terms of what they have gone through in the last few months with the disaster, we're proud to have been on the other side of the field. they're a great team. proud of sawa who had an amazing tournament. the team is so good. proud of ourselves, but we have to give japan a lot of credit. >> i think you should also take away from this a transcendent

moment that you created. men and boys -- my 16-year-old son -- men and women in uniform in afghanistan glued to the television set, watching you, cheering for you. i mean, this was a victory for women's soccer. do you think -- do you realize the difference you have made for women's sports? >> absolutely. i think it's clear that, you know, we play with so much pride and so much spirit and so much passion. and i think that's the american spirit. and i think people really grasp on to that, and they wanted to jump on the bandwagon and follow it. because truly, this country loves winners. and although we didn't bring the cup home, we have a winning attitude and winning spirit and we play with so much passion and pride. and i think the country really enjoyed watching. >> and you've got daughters, christie. >> two little girls. >> so this is particularly poignant for you. >> yeah, it was definitely amazing to finish off the tournament like that and just to be able to go home to two little girls smiling and inspiring the youth, you know, and hopefully everyone, you know, jumps on

board and enjoys the board of soccer and really appreciates what these 21 girls have done for the sport. >> you're not done. london olympics coming. are you guys ready? all right. you're already ready? maybe you should take a break first. it's great to see all of you. thanks so much for getting up early and hanging out with us. bravo. and we're back right after this. with the pain e of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis could be another day you're living with joint damage. help stop the damage before it stops you by asking your rheumatologist about humira. for many adult patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis humira has been proven to help relieve pain and stop joint damage. humira's use in patients with ra has been evaluated in multiple studies during the past 14 years.

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body building competitions and now competitors are getting younger and younger. here is nbc's adeedi roy. >> reporter: killer abs, steely arms and a rippled chest. but this is no seasoned professional. this body builder is a 13-year-old boy. >> i guess having a good body, working muscles to perfection. that's what i like about it. >> reporter: richard started pumping iron last year. >> i set ridiculous goals to see if i can reach them. >> reporter: one of those goals, to showcase his sculpted physique. two months ago -- >> i think my brother told me to peak. >> reporter: -- on stage. it was his first amateur body building competition. he won. >> he was very unsure i would be able to get on the stage but it was a lot of fun. >> reporter: to prepare, richard spent two days a week at the gym, lifting weights with his dad. >> richard and i are close friends, and i'm so proud of him. >> he told me a lot of good information about weight lift g lifting. >> reporter: richard isn't alone

in his love of working out. a recent study shows the number of 6 to 11-year-olds joining a gym has doubled since 2005. >> the younger they are, the more susceptible the cartilage of the growtplate is to injury. a significant injury to a growth plate can lead to long-term consequences. >> reporter: some doctors say, with the right adult supervision, weight training, even in the preteen years, can be safe. others claim body building is different. >> boys, perfectionism is usually created with increased muscularity. so if they're starting at such a young age, i think they have the danger of continuing to strive for that perfectionism later on. >> reporter: making the pressures on buffed-up boys possibly similar to those facing tiara-wearing girls. >> body building is exactly the same thing as beauty pageants for girls. >> reporter: they say they have consulted with richard's pediatrician and monitor his well-being. >> i know what he's doing and if he's overdoing it. >> i definitely think he has

gotten more confident. he knows he's stronger. >> if you try your best, it will definitely work your body to the point of perfection. >> reporter: for richard, it is about the perfect body. one lift at a time. for "today," adidi roy, nbc news, los angeles. >> dr. jordan metsle is a sports medicine physical at new york city's hospital for special surgery and a member of the american academy of pediatrics. jeff gardere is a psychologist. good morning to both of you. i don't know whether to start with the physical side of this or emotional side of this. let me go with you. do you see an issue with this? >> i see an issue. i feel the boys may start to develop what we call an adonis complex. in other words, trying to live up to this physical ideal, hyper masculinity, and not tapping into more of their social skills. >> i was a skinny kid. my parents helped me out with things like improving the strength of my wrists so i could maybe hit a little bit better in little league. but this takes it to a whole different level. >> teaching you technique, more

strength training than anything else. and there is nothing wrong with that. and i'm saying that as a psychologist. but when we're looking at body building at such a young age, we know there are so many more injuries, and, again, the seeky is affected by this. >> they're fixated now on their bodies, if this is the case, from 8, 9, 10 years old. it can't be good down the road. >> it can't be good, because they're not looking at their sensitivity, tapping into other sides of their lives. they're more -- everything. the focus is just about their bodies. and we're afraid of body dismorphia, eating disorders. >> i have a 10-year-old, so this is right in my frame of reference. and what damage could he do to his body in the long term if he doesn't work with weights properly now? >> well, matt, when i watched that piece, i'm thinking, oh, my god. that's not the right thing we want to see at all. we are really against power lifting and body building for adolescents and teens, it's dangerous for their growing bodies. we're very much in favor, not only myself but the american academy of pediatrics, the

college of sports medicine is strongly in favor of strength training for kids. your son can be doing high-reputation, light-weight training. i saw that guy trying to max out on a bench press set. that's a bad thing for a kid. >> so if my child came to me and said, dad, i love little league, i want to get stronger. first, i should set realistic goals and boundaries? >> strength training is great, it reduces injury rate, he'll play better. you can be part of it, too. the key is high-reputation, light-weight training will recruit more muscle. >> one thing we have to applaud the family for, there was adult supervision at all times. huge mistake to allow your kids to do this themselves. >> that's right. the number one reason kids get hurt doing strength training because they're not being supervised. >> like this idea that you talk about boundaries and i assume you're talking about the boundaries of parents getting involved, to the point of being overinvolved and pushing their kids to this hyper masculinity and that's not good for the

psyche of the kids. >> let's look at the other side of the coin on this. if we had a child who was obese and came to us and said, dad, i want to go to the gym every single day, and i want to go crazy on this. would we view it in a slightly different way? >> well, my obese patients are often discouraged from doing sports physically and i think psychologically too from doing sports. and so i think some of the things that strength training offers them really are that they can do this with, you know, and not feel judged and they can do better. so i think it's a great thing for them to do. >> and it's more about getting healthy if you're obese. you want to find the proper balance. it's much different than doing body building at a competitive edge at such a young age. >> jeff and dr. metsel thank you very much. appreciate your input. it is now 23 after the hour. here's ann. >> matt, thanks. now let's check in with our friend mr. willard scott. hey, willard, good morning. >> birthday hats on and blow the candles, because here we are in

smucker'sville. happy birthday to one and all. and this is eve jacobson. i'll get that right. 100 years old today. and we wish her a very happy birthday. lives independently and loves her chicago. what a town. nothing like chicago. nothing like chicago. and mary cavotta of mechanicsville, new york. 100 years old today. an avid syracuse university basketball fan and football. loves to watch it on the tv. and we have abraham shenkman of lynbrook, new york. 100 years old today. proud world war ii veteran, and lives independently. drives his own vehicle and still works at his typewriter. how about that? keeping busy. that's part of the secret. and here is elizabeth shamrell from tucson, arizona, 102 years old today. secret to longevity is eating plenty of vegetables, and doing

all sorts of exciting things like having a glass of wine with her din-din. he had gar eifert. he is from faribault, minnesota. 100 years old today. served as a minister for 75 years, and enjoys playing the piano and solving crossword puzzles. a great combination. and finally, we have sally mosher, los angeles, california, 100 years old. loves to be there for all of her family. that's a nice way to put it. and her hobbies are fabulous, and she loves those. and that's it. from your nation's capital, where we're saving you money. now back to new york. >> hey, willard, thanks. coming up, those cool guys from "entourage."

>> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am mindy basara. let's get a final check on the morning commute with sarah caldwell. >> still monitoring a couple of accidents in the city. one involving a pedestrian at alice and out. be extra careful there. paca street and lombard street, another accident location. normal spots, outer loop from harford to providence. 790 fight towards i-1/7.

eastbound traffic is moving very well towards the beltway. let's give a quick live look outside. here is what it looks like a the topside at the harrisburg expressway. so far so good on the maryland line all the way to i-83. fort mchenry, coming towards us, sat at traffic moving while. -- up on traffic moving well. ava, over to you. >> weather is not causing issues this morning to the afternoon. it may bring a relief from the heat. anybody lucky enough to get a shower or thunderstorm, it could be strong in the afternoon, isolated in nature. 90 in the mountains, at 93 along the eastern shore. hotter than this throughout the week. isolated storms tomorrow. low 90s, keep on climbing. friday, up near 100 degrees. >> we will have another update

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8:30 now on a tuesday morning. it's the 19th day of july, 2011. great crowd here in rockefeller plaza. and we're happy that so many of them have decided to kick off their day with us. out on the plaza, i'm matt lauer along with ann curry. al roker and natalie morales. the ladies, you guys used to

have "sex in the city," right? >> there used to be a movie called "sex in the city". i'm not sure we had sex in the city. >> the point i was making, for the men, it's all about "entoura "entourage", a great show all about a movie star. and his band of brothers. the question is, where does vinny go from here? that show is entering its eighth and final season. there's the whole cast right there in our studio. i'm going to chat with those guys in a couple minutes. >> how cool are they? really. okay. also coming up this morning, somebody else pretty cool is in our studio. jane pauly talking about carrying on a mother's mission to help children. >> and then on our diet sos, joy bauer is going to tell us why all filberts and nuts are not created equal. >> and have you ever dreamed of being a guitar hero? i mean, seriously being able to play the guitar? >> sure. >> wanting to be a rocker.

well, coming up, ms. savannah guthrie, who happens to be a rocker, very, very talented. she tried to show me how to strum the six string, and i'll just say, the guitar bar at hoboken will never be the same. >> cool, that looks like fun. mr. roker. >> all right. let's show you what's happening for today. we've got a risk of strong storms from the plains all the way into the mid atlantic states. we're expecting that heat to continue through the southwest. and then as we move on into tomorrow, we expect to see the heat throughout much of the country. heat advisories and warnings, probably over 20 states tomorrow. showers in the pacific northwest. a little on the mild side. and where are you guys from? [ inaudible ] >> all right. that's what's going on around the un >> unfortunately, no escape from heat and humidity. high temperatures across the state.

scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon. heavy downpours. and that's your latest weather. ann? >> all right, al, thank you so much. coming up, the boys are back in town. we're talking about the cast of "entoura "entourage" here in our studio.

for the past seven seasons, hbo's hit series, "entourage" has taken viewers inside the world of vincent chase and those who make up his inner circle. now, in the show's eighth and final season, vince is out of rehab, that's good news, and thinking about his next project. but the idea does not go over so

well with everyone. take a look. >> the main character is an american. mortgages his house, and smuggleses labrador into romania for survival. anyway, i really think there is a movie in this. >> could be. >> totally. >> a movie for you? >> i mean, it could be great, don't you think? >> well, i mean, it's not a whole lot of time between now and march. >> and i want to direct it, too. i'm going to go to the bathroom. johnnie, order me something good, huh? >> i hate that idea. kevin conley, jeremy representatipifan. nice to have you here. i started reading tweets. we should mention to people, the season is wrapped. you shot all of season eight. so you're done. and you started tweeting about what the experience was like and what it was like to have it over and it's clear, this is a big part of your lives and your careers. >> kevin is still giving us

notes, though. it's awful. he directed an episode. he doesn't realize, the season is over. >> but it's a big transition. has it sunk in yet that it's over? >> when you have done one thing for so long, it's hard to imagine doing anything else. but i think like the "entourage" rule, we'll persevere and keep going. >> have you guys figured out yet why this sunk in pop culture, and some of the words and terms you use on the show became part of our vernacular? i watch sports center a lot. i hear athletes all of the time reference "entourage" moments. have you figured out why that happened? >> i don't know. but that was certainly a good sign to me that the show is a hit to watch it and hear it on "sports center." that was certainly the highlight of the experience for me. certainly for kevin. >> i mean, all actors are frustrated athletes. that's the truth. we think of acting as a momentum sport. so the fact that our heroes are quoting us is unbelievable. >> and what helped is a lot of those athletes made guest

appearances. there were a lot of cameos on this show. in some ways, the cameo became like another character on the program. >> yeah, it was definitely crazy. you look at the call sheet sometimes before work and seeing the people that were going to be onset that day, you know? >> brady, nicholson, mike tyson. >> stoudemire. >> you walk to video village and kevin durant is sitting behind the monitors, oh, kevin durant is here. >> can i just mention how great you look? you have been here before and i've seen the show and you've lost a lot of weight. >> i have. it's been a long road of trying to keep it going. so i'm trying not to blow it, you know? >> a couple of things i've got to know. what is ari's wife's name? even in the credits, it says -- mrs. ari. go ahead. what's her name? >> you know, i -- i can't tell you. >> what do you mean? >> but it will be -- we'll have to have a moment and it will be awkward on live television, matt. because i'm not -- it will be

revealed within the first few episod episodes. >> is it something ridiculous, or is it like susan and we're all going to say, that's it, susan? >> maybe. >> well, to be -- >> can i say something? >> the way it comes out, things are revealed. >> is this going to make me mad when i find out? >> no. there is a payoff. >> yeah? >> and by the way, perry reeves who plays my wife is amazing. and it was her choice to always be called mrs. ari. >> last year was a little heavy. all right? and i think some viewers made comments about -- it got -- it got a little heavy. i understand this one is a little lighter. is that true? >> yeah, well, vince is back. and he's got to prove to everyone that he's not actually the drug addict that everyone thinks he is. >> he's out of rehab, but he's not a drug addict, right? are you worried that the -- the five of you sitting here, it seems like you had such a great experience on the show, not the results on the air, but the

process. that it will be hard to relationship indicate that with future projects? >> i've actually talked to some of your people and i'm going to do kraft service for you, so i've got that locked. i'm good to go. i don't know about the rest of the team. >> but do you worry about not being able to duplicate the rest of this experience? >> i think it would be impossible to duplicate. i think it's so unique. you could go on and do ten shows or however many and win academy awards but it will never be as special as this. lightning in a bottle. >> by the way, eight years, it doesn't have to end. were you all on board with this? >> no, it got cancelled. >> we're not on board with it at all. >> tomorrow is the -- >> and what about a movie? there's a lot of talk about movie. are you guys on board with that? >> we are on board with that. we're going to continue to do weather-sodes. >> will there be a movie? >> we're going to try hard to make it happen. >> all right. hug it out? do people come up on the street and say "hug it out" and a word

we don't say on morning tv? >> they didn't yell "cut" and i was looking in casey's eyes and i knew he would be very uncomfortable if i hugged him so i just said it. >> i started this whole thing by talking about the tweets. i liked yours. don't be sad because it's over, smile because it happened. a wise man said that to you. >> yes. actually, our director, david nutter, the moment we wrapped said that to us. and i think it's very true. >> wow. good for all of us. seven great seasons so far. we look forward to the eighth. guys, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> good to have you here. and you can catch the season premier of "entourage" sunday night 10:30 eastern on hbo. up next, jane paulie on how one woman found her life's calling thanks to her mom. but first, this is "today" on nbc.

this morning on "your life

calling" today, all in the family. "today" contributor jane pauley has been working with the aarp, which has produced and sponsored a series of reports for us. and this morning, she is here with a story of one woman making a difference in the field of education. jane, good morning. >> thank you, ann. mary reid can look back with pride on a successful career. but when she heard her mother's life calling, she found her own. ♪ >> reporter: boston, 1946. mary reid's mother bessie starts a nursery school in her home. >> i grew up in it sort of as a worker, trainer, whatever mom needed me to be. mom would collect some money, and it was always cash. and she would tuck it in her bosom. and so that would be the bank. until we get home. there was truly a family business. >> reporter: and still is. now there are three child care centers operated by mary's

children. but when mary reid shows chose her own career, she was thinking beyond the family business. she became the first african-american woman to head the boston ywca. that's a big deal. >> it was a big deal. >> reporter: then a bigger opportunity came her way. >> i got a call, and they said the goodwill industries is looking for a vice president with a varied background. and your name has come up. and i thought, this would be a great job. >> for 12 years, it was. and then her mother died. when she passed at 72, that turned your life around full circle, didn't it? >> sure did. sure did. 60 years of hard work, my mother put into building something. everybody in the family looked to me to make decisions about going forward or closing. so are you going to then kind of

walk away? >> reporter: so at 59, mary stepped down from a thriving career and into her mother's shoes. >> what's his name? >> keely. >> and what's her name? >> stella. >> reporter: but she faced problems her mother never did. >> middle class families had moved out of the city. inner city parents required subsidy to pay for quality care. >> reporter: but if the parent lost that subsidy -- >> for whatever reason. >> reporter: and the kid is -- >> gone. there was no continuity. how does that impact the children? how did it impact the achievement gap? >> reporter: mary's executive skills kicked in. she created a foundation, the bessie tart wilson initiative for children. she was relentless. >> we've tracked 3,200 youngsters and found this is a huge issue for a provider

statewide. a human being is psychologically better prepared for life if their early education is a good experience. >> reporter: she took her case to the state assembly. >> in the scheme of things, it's not a lot of money in terms of investing in children. >> in young people, right. >> yeah. >> reporter: and got them to change the law to help subsidize kids and stay in daycare. your reinvention is advocacy. >> yes. >> reporter: now, in a city that prizes education -- >> it begins at 0 to 3. >> reporter: -- mary reid is seen as a champion for the neediest. at age 71, she is giving the youngest a shot at a better life. so you must be looking forward to retiring. >> my children keep reminding me, you keep saying you're going to stay home more. and work in your garden. but i really don't. >> reporter: you're alive! >> and it makes me feel alive to

do this work. are you going to clap too? >> you know, as we talked, mary saw that at every turn in her life, she had had to learn something new. but that it was always an extension of what she already knew. that's how people grow. mary kept growing. the reality check about advocacy in mary's words, at the end of the day, have we changed something? it's about results. by the way, you can join me later today at noon eastern for my live internet radio show to talk about this and more. that's at aarp.org/jane. >> great. you know, what a wonderful story. and mary built upon skill upon skill, not even realizing she had them at first. >> i think it's universal. she talked about as a teenager in her mother's nursery learning how to engage with people, meeting customers and clients was kind of her job.

but she was nervous about it, until she realized, she was actually good at it. every job she had yet a new discovery about something that she was good at. and now she is putting a lifetime of experience to work, and adding new talent. >> a lesson for all of us. jane pauley, thank you so much. and coming up next, best-selling author daniel sylvia on his latest thriller. but first, this is "today" on nbc.

it's been more than a decade since best-selling author daniel silva first introduced us to gabriel allon, the fictional spy, killer and reclaimed art restorer. now gabriel and his team of operatives are back for a new adventure in a new novel called "portrait of a spy." and for the record, daniel is married to jamie gangle. welcome back. >> thanks for having me. >> this is a long time writing about this character, like being involved in a long-term marriage. are there days when you wake up at the computer and are tired of this guy? >> no, it's like my own marriage, perfect, wonderful. never thought about, you know, setting him aside at any point. he's like a part of the family. and, you know, i used to think that authors would exaggerate when they say that they really, you know, think of their characters as real people. but at this point, i'm afraid

that gabriel allon is a real person. >> i'm trying to get over the fact that you just sucked up that much on national television. unbelievable. let's talk about this book a little bit. there has been a series of terrorist bombings. and gabriel is drawn back out of retirement, which happens a lot with this guy. he needs to change his cell phone number. >> he does. >> they constantly draw him back in. why is he so reluctant all of the time? >> because he has lived a very difficult life in terms of his career and he has been engaged in the war against terrorism, arguably longer than anyone else. he started as a young guy after the 1972 munich massacre. and frankly, it's difficult work. you get tired of it. and he doesn't want to do it. but he is very good, he has certain skills that other guys don't possess and we need him. >> a couple things that jump out. you really wanted to set this book, and you do, ten years from 9/11. >> that's right. >> in real-time. why?

>> because i wanted to sort of take stock of where we are in this global war against terrorism. not only this threat of terrorism itself, but the impact it had on us as people, as americans. and as i set out to write this book, the earth literally shifted under my feet. >> well, that's what they make -- >> unrest that we have never anticipated. i was halfway through the book when it started. >> so did you have to go and revise things you had written in the first half because of the arab -- >> i did. for a few days i said no, it's not going to have an impact. and then when egypt exploded into unrest, i had no choice but to incorporate it into the book. it was an enormous challenge but also an enormous opportunity. because it gave me a chance to write a book about something more than terrorism. it's about the future of the middle east, and the world. >> you have a history of writing strong female characters. which presents you another opportunity to suck up to your wife. you can pass on this. but this one in this book, nadia

albacari probably stands out. tell me about her. >> she is the daughter of a saudi billionaire who was a terrorist financier himself. who gabriel actually killed in a previous book. and so they team up in this book in order to break a new network led by a charismatic american-born islamic cleric who wants to be a new bin laden. and so it's a unique partnership between islam and the west. and i think it is indicative of the kind of partnership we have to form if we are ever going to truly defeat the threat of international war. >> was it the last book or the one before you came here and admitted to me you had fallen a little bit in love with the female lead character. >> i did. >> as you wrote her. how long did you sleep in the guest room after that? >> well, a long time, actually. i didn't make the same mistake this time. i was in awe of this character, and this character's courage. and it was inspired by the people -- it's very easy for us

in the west to sit here and say, they should do something to get their extremists -- deal with extremism. it's much harder when you live in those countries and you have to stare the beast in the eye and say, you have to stop this. enough already. i am in awe of the people who stand up in the middle east and have that kind of courage. and i imbued my character with that courage. >> we have talked about bringing this character to the big screen. give me a progress report. what's happening? >> well, it's been widely reported in the newspapers that we have reached a deal with universal studios. we're still working out some of the final details of that deal. but the best part is that we have settled on an actor, finally. >> you'll be having a final deal? >> to play the role of gabriel. >> who is it? >> well, i think the guy is right here. >> yeah, there goes the book.

there goes your career. okay. thank you very much, daniel, good to have you here. >> thanks a lot. >> we're back >> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am mindy basara. here's a look at one of our top stories. the i-team has learned that baltimore city fire academy has suspended its ems training program. it covered as many as 20 cadets, given confidential state testing materials prior to taking the exam. the fire chief called for an internal investigation. maryland institute for emergency medical services has agreed

>> now let's look at the forecast with ava marie. >> boy, it is going to be another hot one at. low-to-mid-nineties this afternoon. scattered thunderstorms late in the day, maybe late in the evening with gusty winds and downpours. scattered in nature. isolated storm tomorrow. it is going to go good compared to what we see late in the week. 96 by thursday, 99 on friday. some temperatures passed 100 degrees. sounds good, doesn't it? >> great. we will have another weather update at 9:25.